Music

For over a century Christ Church has had notable pipe-organs enhancing its worship. In fact the noted organ builder Hilbourne Roosevelt grew up in Christ Church and was for a time the church organist. It was under his direction that a two manual Odell, which later enlarged to three manuals, was purchased from First Presbyterian Church across the street. Then followed a Roosevelt organ, a Hutchings (installed 1956), and a Wicks (1956). The current instrument, built by Québec-based Hellmuth Wolff and Associates, was dedicated on December 7, 1986. The dedication festivities included such musical giants as Gerre Hancock, Gillian Weir, and Sir David Willcocks.

The Hellmuth Wolff, Opus 30

Christ Church is blessed to have a world class pipe organ in an equally sublime acoustic. Now in existence for over two decades, the mighty Wolff remains both an ideal accompaniment for worship services and a wonderful concert instrument. There are 32 stops in almost 40 ranks in three divisions (two manuals and pedals) with absolutely no borrowing or duplexing, making it ideal for the music of Bach and other Baroque composers.

Since its installation in 1986 the organ has received two expansions of its combination action. In the original installation there were only two memory levels, labeled A and B. After a few years the instrument was expanded to allow for 16 memory levels. The most recent change, in 2007, further extended the combination action to allow for 128 discrete memory levels. With eight general presets and three pistons for each division, the organ is now capable of over 2000 different pre-sets (2,176 to be exact!).